


Are You Jealous?

by Minako1x2



Series: Tumblr Marvel Prompts [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, But only a little, Jealous Steve, M/M, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Stucky - Freeform, Writing Prompt, charming bucky, fruit stands, get-together, kind of, sweaty boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:29:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4207974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minako1x2/pseuds/Minako1x2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another Tumblr prompt. This time with two lines of dialogue as the inspiration!<br/>5. “Wait. Are you Jealous?”<br/>22. “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.”<br/>Stucky</p><p>Steve is used to watching Bucky flirt with girls. He has been, ever since the 1930's. But now, here in the future, where things are far more progressive than they once were . . . Well, Steve's not used to watching Bucky flirt with guys.<br/>Guys that aren't Steve.<br/>It's Bucky's life. He can do what he wants. But . . . well, it would be nice if he remembered more things. Certain things. Things Steve can't forget. Would never forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Are You Jealous?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to razz-ma-tazz on Tumblr for this one!  
> I'm sorry it took so long! 
> 
>  UPDATE: Weird formatting error has been fixed. 
> 
> Marvel owns all. As per usual.

James Buchanan Barnes had always been popular with the ladies. Steve was used to that. Used to seeing girls smile, giggle, tuck their hair back behind an ear as they offered a coy glance. Before the war, the dance halls had been filled with Bucky admirers. The streets too. And any diner. Any theater or corner shop.

Seventy years had done nothing to change that. Decades had passed, and times had shifted, but girls still fawned over Bucky. Especially since he stopped hiding behind hoods and his long hair. They’d cut his hair a few weeks back, and Bucky shaved more often now. He brooded and scowled less too. It made him all the more approachable.

And so people approached.

The waitress at their favorite diner. Business women walking to and from the office. Nannies in the park who let their normally vigilant gazes wander just for him.

It was just more normal. More of things getting back to the way they had always been.

Bucky attracting attention, smiling, flirting, generally charming every single person he met. And Steve, well, people stared at Steve too now, but the one thing the serum had never been able to change was the awkwardness that was Steven G. Rogers. He never knew what to say. Always fumbled his words. It was frustrating. He could make speeches as Captain America all day long, rally the other Avengers and give rousing pep talks without a second thought. Flirting was never something he had gotten the hang of.

Of course, there had only ever been one person he _wanted_ to flirt with, and way back when flirting hadn’t been necessary. Things just _were_.

Now though . . . Well, now memories were shaky, and sometimes even dark or missing altogether. Certain memories, certain feelings, seemed to have been burned away for good. That was all right. Steve could live with what he had. It was better than what he’d had before, before D.C., before the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.

He always had Bucky. Even when he had nothing else.

So Steve endured the girls, and the flirting, just as he always had. It was nice just to see Bucky smiling again, smiling more, enjoying himself and life.

But _this_. This was new. And this was something Steve did not know how to deal with.

The future had a lot of wonderful new changes. Things he had only once dreamed about, but . . . Well, while he was pleased that people could love who they chose now (Of course they should. It had been unfair in the 40s, and it was right that things were changing now), it didn’t make watching Bucky flirt with another man hurt any less.

Everything they had ever wanted before the war, they could have now.

Except Bucky didn’t seem to want that any more. At least, not with Steve.

They’d been running in the park, watching the sun come up, slowly illuminating the city they had grown up in. It had taken a good while for them to work up a sweat, but they challenged one another. Egged each other on. Steve loved running with Bucky for that reason. Sam was a great guy, but lapping him repeatedly always left Steve feeling a little guilty. There was none of that with Bucky.

They’d concluded their workout, slowing down and taking a cool-down lap before stopping to stretch and rehydrate. Bucky had spotted the Farmer’s Market earlier, and cut his stretching short, asking if Steve wanted anything.

 _“Just you.”_ Steve wanted to say. Instead he just shook his head and said, “Whatever you’re getting.” Then he’d carefully finished stretching--a mission the week prior had left his quad aching and his hamstring torn--watching Bucky walk off all the while.

Then he watched Bucky at the fruit stand. Watched him select a couple of apples, bananas, and what was most likely some kind of berry. He watched the exchange with the vendor which led to small talk, smiles, laughing, and then even a hand on Bucky’s arm.

Steve’s vision was better than other people’s. He could see. He knew that look. He knew what it felt like to be face to face with the Barnes’ Charm.

Bucky stayed a minute longer. More talking. Steve chewed the inside of his cheek and tried to focus on stretching.

Finally, Bucky returned, but only after bidding farewell to his new friend with wave and yet another smile. Steve’s chest felt tight, but he ignored it, pushed it away. It wasn’t his business. And he wanted Bucky to be happy, wanted him to find a place in this new world. He didn’t want to keep Bucky all to himself. That would be selfish, and Captain America was never selfish.

Steve Rogers wanted to be.

“Catch.” The command came just as Bucky tossed him an apple--timing it for when Steve had both hands on the ground. Steve managed to get upright in time.

“Good throw.”

“I was kinda hopin’ to bean ya in the head.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Don’t mention it.” With a smirk and a shrug, Bucky bit into his own apple. That twinge in Steve’s chest returned again.

“So, ah . . .” Steve took a sip from his water bottle to steel his nerves. Unfortunately, it was just water, and nothing stronger. “You make a new friend?”

“Huh?” Bucky stopped chewing in his confusion, then glanced quickly over his shoulder at the fruit stand once more. “Oh, yeah. Guesso. His name is Brandon. Seems nice. Gave me his number.”

Steve choked on the water he had just drank, spitting it all over himself.

“Woah,” Bucky said, grabbing the bottle from Steve’s hand, and then pounding him on the back a few times. “You all right there?”

“Yeah,” Steve wheezed, feeling more like his ninety pound asthmatic self than he had in a long time. “Yeah, I’m good. Just, ah, went down the wrong way.”

“Uh huh.”

“So, he, uh, he gave you his number, huh?”

“Yeah. Amazing, right? Still not quite used to the fact that fellas can do that nowadays.” He took another bite of his apple.

Steve wanted to crush his own apple in his fist. “It’s a brave new world. You gonna call him?”

Bucky shrugged. “Maybe. Why?”

“Just wonderin.’ You can if you want. I mean, not that you need my permission. You clearly don’t need my permission, but if you want to, that’s fine with me. I mean, I won’t judge. I don’t mind. If that’s what you--”

“Woah, woah, Rogers. Slow down. You’re gonna fall on your face you keep tripping over that many words.”

“Sorry. I’ll just--stop talking.” He bit into the apple. Maybe that would keep him from saying anything else and digging this hole any deeper.

“Wait.” Bucky tossed his apple core into a nearby trashcan. “Are you jealous?”

“What?” It was like the whole world had gone still. Silent, but for the blood rushing past Steve’s ears. There seemed an eternity between each heartbeat, and it made the pain in his chest all that much worse.

“Jealous,” Bucky said, simple and clear as day. “Are you jealous that that guy gave me his number?”

Steve didn’t dare look at him, kept his eyes on the apple, lunged into a half-assed stretch that would never pass as anything. “You can do what you want, Buck. I’m not gonna stop you. It’s your life and--” Oh god, he was rambling again. _Stop it, Rogers. Stop. Just shut up._

“Not what I asked.”

“I’m not jealous, Buck.”

“Please. You’re a terrible liar, Steve. Always have been.”

That made Steve snap his head up before he could think better of the action. He just stared at Bucky, sweaty and glistening in the early morning sun, his shirt soaked through from their run, his shorts leaving his strong, muscled legs exposed . . . Steve’s throat went dry.

“Like what you see?”

“I, uh . . .”

“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice. What gives, Rogers? Why keep quiet?” He crept closer, slowly, as if trying not to scare Steve off. No chance. Steve didn’t think he even remembered how to make his legs work. It had been so long since Bucky had looked at him like _that._ Like he wanted to devour him, take him apart. Bucky leaned in, whispering conspiratorially, “Never used to be quiet. Not when my mouth was on ya.”

Steve felt the blush heat his cheeks as he jumped, shocked right off his balance. “You--you remember?”

“Sure I do. Bits and pieces.” He smirked. “Enough.”

“Then why--why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Sayin’ something now, aren’t I? Wasn’t really sure before. Sometimes my head mixes things up, and just because you wanted something seventy years ago doesn’t mean you want it now. Right?”

He said it as if he knew, knew that had been exactly Steve’s reason for biting his own tongue. “Right,” Steve said.

“But you do want it.”

“Always wanted you, Buck.” It was the one constant in his life, the one thing Steve Rogers could always rely on to be a part of himself. His core.

“Good.” Bucky’s hand, his warm, flesh hand, slipped around to the nape of Steve’s neck, pulled him close, until their bodies were flush against one another, sweat making their skin stick together.

Steve’s breath caught in his throat. Thank god his shorts were loose. “Wha-what are you doing?”

Bucky didn’t pull away, didn’t give Steve any indication that he was about to let go, or let Steve step back. “Gonna do somethin’ I’ve been wantin’ to do for the better part of a century.”

“What’s that?”

“Kiss you in public.”

He did. It was hot, and hard, and filled with decades of repressed emotion on both sides. Bucky didn’t mess around. He kissed Steve like he used to, in the privacy of their tiny, shitty Brooklyn apartment, with tongue and teeth and fingers pressing into Steve’s neck, pulling the short hairs at his nape.

Steve kissed him back, hands at Bucky’s waist, sneaking beneath the hem of his shirt, seeking out the solid muscles hidden beneath taught and scarred skin.

All too quickly (though probably not quickly at all for anyone who happened to be passing by) Bucky ended the kiss, grabbed Steve by the hand, and started hauling him back across the park.

“Buck? Where are we going?”

“Home.”

“Why?”

“Because while I can kiss you in public now, some other things still aren’t legal, and I don’t feel like waiting any longer. Do you?”

Nope. Definitely not.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think you guys will need cookies and Bucky Bears after this one. Not like with [Marry Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4081009/chapters/9191431) But . . . I'll leave them out anyway. I'm nice like that. ^_^
> 
>  
> 
> Come visit on Tumblr! [minako1x2](http://www.minako1x2.tumblr.com/)


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